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Report - Middleton Hospital, Ilkley - March 2014

28DL Full Member

I've been lurking around 28DL for a few years now but I've finally decided to get involved!

The hospital is located just outside of the town of Ilkley in West Yorkshire, not too far from Leeds & Bradford.

There doesn't seem to be a great deal of information on this place but from what I can gather it opened around the time of the First World War as a military hospital then becoming a TB hospital and finally a geriatric facility (my parents both had grandparents here).

It closed in the early 1990's and most of the buildings were demolished with the exception of the nurses accommodation (now in use as a school next to the site), a lodge, the staff social club, an admin block and what appears to be a sub-station.

Recently it has been the subject of a number of redevelopment plans. In 2005 the site was purchased with the intention of it becoming an 'eco-village' but this was rejected by the local planning authorities. It was then supposedly earmarked for use as a 'residential institution’ with the remaining buildings supposedly to be refurbished (good luck with that!). More recently it has been announced that a 'traditional style country house' was to be built on the site but that 'building work must be halted if unexpected contamination is found in the ground' - This is a reference to the long standing rumours that the ground is still contaminated with TB...

The site has remained in more or less the same state for a number of years now but on my visit there was evidence of recent earth moving activity, maybe something is finally about to happen?

Anyway, without further ado...

The Staff Social Club

View of the stage

And from the stage

From the projection room

The Admin Block

Inside

There are still many paths around the site, complete with lampposts..

Many years ago this would have been the main entrance/reception

Hope you enjoyed these :)

Just as a footnote, it's interesting to see the difference just a few years makes, compared to this set from 2009 - Linky (all credit to the original photographers).